Schiavo's Parents Pin Hope On Bill

But Opponents Say The Proposal Could Force Feeding Tubes On People Against Their Wishes.

March 14, 2005|By Sean Mussenden, Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- With a judge scheduled to pull Terri Schiavo's life-giving feeding tube in less than a week, her family lobbied state lawmakers Sunday to again intervene in the internationally watched right-to-die case.

Joined by 300 at a rally at the foot of the Capitol, they urged the Florida Legislature to move quickly on a bill that supporters say could prevent the severely brain-damaged woman's impending death.

A year and a half ago, the Legislature passed a law that allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to restore Schiavo's feeding tube six days after it had been removed by her husband. That law was declared unconstitutional, and Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer has set the tube's removal for Friday.

"As Yogi Berra says, we're having deja vu all over again with what's happening to Terri," her father, Bob Schindler, told the crowd.

The state House has fast-tracked legislation that would prevent a guardian from denying an incapacitated person food and water, in most cases, unless they had a living will that asked that it be withheld. Schiavo did not have a living will. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has said she asked not to be kept alive artificially before she fell into what some doctors call a "persistent vegetative state."

The bill cleared the House Health Care Regulation Committee last week. The House Judiciary Committee will hear it today, and a third and final committee, the Health and Families Council, will hear it Tuesday, after which it will head to the House floor. A similar bill has been filed in the Senate.

The legislation would be retroactive.

"If it comes through in its present form, we believe it could save Terri's life," said David Gibbs, the Schindlers' attorney.

Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, could not be reached for comment Sunday. Last week, he denounced the proposed legislation as unconstitutional.

Unlike "Terri's Law," passed in 2003, the proposed legislation would likely apply to thousands of Floridians. Opponents, including some doctors and nursing-home administrators, fear that the wording could force thousands of elderly and incapacitated people to get feeding tubes against their wishes simply because they never wrote them down.

In a nod to the politics wrapped up in Schiavo's case, state Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, a likely GOP candidate for governor in 2006, addressed the crowd.

"We're all here today because we value life," he said.

Sunday's rally marked the beginning of a weeklong lobbying effort urging state lawmakers to quickly pass the legislation.

Today and Tuesday, supporters will distribute red roses around the Capitol with pink tags requesting that they be denied water and plant food, a metaphor for Schiavo's fate.

The Schindlers plan to walk the halls promoting the legislation, joined by representatives from dozens of conservative Christian groups praying for the Legislature to intervene again.

Brandi Swindell, national director for Generation Life, an Idaho-based Christian outreach group for high school and college kids, brought about 50 students to Tallahassee Sunday.

If Terri Schiavo's tube is removed, Swindell said, her group will go on a hunger strike, refusing food and all but a little water until it is restored or Schiavo dies.

Standing on a stage at the foot of the Capitol, Swindell and her students led a sea of bowed heads in a prayer urging lawmakers to pass the proposed legislation. Walking off, she stopped and looked at the towering building and said, "You can imagine the spiritual power that will be aimed at this place in the coming days."